Better Together campaign director Blair McDougall said: "We're delighted to receive the passionate and heartfelt support of Sir Bob Geldof.

"His work in tackling poverty around the world is rightly recognised. Sir Bob sees that working together we can do so much more than we ever could apart. Walking away won't solve our problems.

"More and more people in Scotland are seeing that there is a better alternative to the nationalists' politics of division and grievance. We can have more powers for Scotland without taking on all the risks of independence."

Geldof provides a much-needed bit of glamour to a 'No' campaign which had struggled to get musicians and artists onside, but he is likely to be met with fierce online attacks by the so-called cybernats.

After David Bowie asked Scotland to "stay with us" at the Brit awards he faced online vitriol from many independence supporters.